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Super evening in NCP Saturday as the hurlers gave us another great display. They have so much character and only for the Laois keeper, the winning margin would of been greater. Some performances were top notch especially Fiachra Fitz in midfield. Kevin Mc, Jon Nolan, Fiach O Toole v good in the half back line along with Conor Kehoe and Chris up front. Laois brought a great crowd but unfortunately as usual there was a poor attendance from Carlow supporters. Anyway, that's nothing new, well done to the lads and best of luck over the coming weeks. Dualclub1 (Carlow) - Posts: 302 - 20/04/2026 12:32:13 2667472 Link
Replying To Dualclub1: "Super evening in NCP Saturday as the hurlers gave us another great display. They have so much character and only for the Laois keeper, the winning margin would of been greater. Some performances were top notch especially Fiachra Fitz in midfield. Kevin Mc, Jon Nolan, Fiach O Toole v good in the half back line along with Conor Kehoe and Chris up front. Laois brought a great crowd but unfortunately as usual there was a poor attendance from Carlow supporters. Anyway, that's nothing new, well done to the lads and best of luck over the coming weeks." Well done Carlow hurlers! A very good overall performance delivered crucial goals and the defence stood firm and upscuttled Laois time after time. We looked in some trouble after the second half scoring spree from Laois but we settled and put the pressure back on the Laois defence as our outfield players really got stuck in and delivered a lot of decent ball. Hard to find fault with the display The under 20's defeating Westmeath was special as they were down to 14 early in the second half. But the players really pushed oj and got some vital scores. That was a special win The minor footballers play with plenty of confidence and it shows! They have a nice style of play and look for players in a better position. They mix it up well, have a bit of physique where it counts and overall, are a decent team. That was 3 teams winning from Thursday to Sat. Not too often that happens but great when it does. Mullingar on Saturday will be a another serious and difficult assignment. Having James Doyle ,Conor Kehoe and Ciaran Whelan with another big game under their belt is a huge plus. carlowman (Carlow) - Posts: 1898 - 20/04/2026 14:58:42 2667525 Link
Replying To Ceatharlach7000: "Some of the messages here about the hurlers is a joke…. Years ago we could never get anywhere close to Laois and would maybe get a result every one in ten games. Now the lads go out and beat them by NINE POINTS YES NINE POINTS and people are saying we are gone backwards… Great performance by the lads now favourites to win Joe mc (the second tier of hurling by the way). So stop taking a negative after a great performance and let these boys play." You can enjoy the win and great result while still acknowledging there's a slight downward tragectory given lads getting older and the manager having a quite antiquated style compared to the way that the game is progressing. CarlowJuniorB (Clare) - Posts: 150 - 20/04/2026 17:14:00 2667550 Link
Replying To CarlowJuniorB: "You can enjoy the win and great result while still acknowledging there's a slight downward tragectory given lads getting older and the manager having a quite antiquated style compared to the way that the game is progressing." I would actually say he got the tactics absolutely spot on to win the game! We kept 2 inside for the bulk of the game and this differed from a lot of the league games where we had no major inside threat. We pressed most of their puck ours again which we didn't do for a lot of league games. I think you have to play to win the game Infront of you rather than a style of others. I always thought the Laois inside line was getable at and with Chris/James in there you are always going to stress test any backline. Keeping it fairly simple suits this group of players and the stage they are at in their careers. old yellar (None) - Posts: 2651 - 20/04/2026 20:49:20 2667601 Link
Replying To CarlowJuniorB: "You can enjoy the win and great result while still acknowledging there's a slight downward tragectory given lads getting older and the manager having a quite antiquated style compared to the way that the game is progressing." You may be right about the antiquated style but you are managing that downward trajectory far better than us. Sadly from our point of view too many players retired at the one time and we will pay the price for a number of years. The Carlow board and players are to be highly commended for this as over the past decade yourselves,Laois and ourselves have striven for the top table and now ourselves and Laois are paying the price of exhausted players having enough and not enough replacements of the same quality. Our 20s have been very disappointing. jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 1929 - 20/04/2026 21:03:20 2667604 Link
Replying To old yellar: "I would actually say he got the tactics absolutely spot on to win the game! We kept 2 inside for the bulk of the game and this differed from a lot of the league games where we had no major inside threat. We pressed most of their puck ours again which we didn't do for a lot of league games. I think you have to play to win the game Infront of you rather than a style of others. I always thought the Laois inside line was getable at and with Chris/James in there you are always going to stress test any backline. Keeping it fairly simple suits this group of players and the stage they are at in their careers." Spot on, having James Doyle makes these tactics easier too with his physical presence. If we can deliver 60/40 ball to them we can do damage. Also if we turn ball over in our half forward line we have pace with Jack Tracey, Donagh Murphy and Conor Kehoe to break through on goal similar to Conor's goal. Apart from the 15 minutes after half time you'd have to be happy. Laois upped the intensity, pushed up on our puck out and had Fiachra C Fennell positioned to stop delivery to our 2 man full forward line which was also helped by the work rate of their forwards. The lads showed huge character to kick on after losing a 7 point lead so quickly. I understand what people are saying about the game / performance but it was a huge game for both teams. They all knew the loser would be under huge pressure. Over the last few years we've had an easier start to the campaign (on paper) too. Also, confidence wasn't going to be high after a poor league campaign and some players haven't had a lot of game time such as James Doyle, Conor Kehoe, Ciaran Whelan, Jack McCullagh. Interesting that Jon Nolan was positioned at wing back, which Rangers tried in the group stage of last years championship. His best position is still probably wing forward but I'd prefer him wing back compared to midfield though you might prefer more natural defenders with the likes of Picky Maher on the pitch. Anyway on to Mullingar on Saturday! hurlingguru (Carlow) - Posts: 1856 - 20/04/2026 22:35:55 2667616 Link
at least three nailed-on starters not available for the league played on Saturday - with a thin enough pick each makes a difference. Hopefully we get a good run and stay injury / suspension free ... Bainisteoir (National) - Posts: 613 - 21/04/2026 12:20:38 2667700 Link
Looks like we have 2 county hurling games on Saturday. The minors are playing Kildare at 2. 30 in Fenagh and our seniors are playing Westmeath at 4pm in Mullingar. That means it is not possible to attend the two games and it also means that our young hurlers will not be able to watch our seniors playing. That is not good enough. Our young players should be able to attend the senior game as well and they should be accomodated by having an earlier throw in time in their match. It is one thing to have games finish on the day and competitions ending, but teams should be able to support our seniors in particular. carlowman (Carlow) - Posts: 1898 - 22/04/2026 13:47:59 2667896 Link
Best of luck to the hurlers today. Mullingar has traditionally been a tough place for us to go. We won there last year but cant remember when our last win was before that. Westmeath might not be as strong as they were in the past but still have some very good hurlers, I expect Killian Doyle and Darragh Egerton to start even though they're named on the bench. hurlingguru (Carlow) - Posts: 1856 - 25/04/2026 11:57:09 2668512 Link
Replying To hurlingguru: "Best of luck to the hurlers today. Mullingar has traditionally been a tough place for us to go. We won there last year but cant remember when our last win was before that. Westmeath might not be as strong as they were in the past but still have some very good hurlers, I expect Killian Doyle and Darragh Egerton to start even though they're named on the bench." Super result… very difficult place to go and get a result traditionally for carlow football and hurling teams.. missed plenty but dug deep to see it out. Big character test. Great to beat two Leinster teams that historically being ahead of us in provisional pecking order. Currently the best of the rest outside of top 11 or top 5 in Leinster.. week rest to prepare for massively important trip to Down. Carlowtothecore1 (Carlow) - Posts: 131 - 25/04/2026 17:53:55 2668576 Link
Replying To Carlowtothecore1: "Super result… very difficult place to go and get a result traditionally for carlow football and hurling teams.. missed plenty but dug deep to see it out. Big character test. Great to beat two Leinster teams that historically being ahead of us in provisional pecking order. Currently the best of the rest outside of top 11 or top 5 in Leinster.. week rest to prepare for massively important trip to Down." Congratulations to our old rivals. We are both fighting the good fight.To be honest despite the defeat i was happy enough with the performance of our very young team. jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 1929 - 25/04/2026 21:13:38 2668638 Link
Replying To jobber: "Congratulations to our old rivals. We are both fighting the good fight.To be honest despite the defeat i was happy enough with the performance of our very young team." As you should be Jobber, game in the melting pot right to the end. Plenty of pace to trouble teams and no shortage of skill. Huge game against Laois in 2 weeks time. Westmeath threw everything at us and the lads dug in to grind it out. I thought Marty was outstanding today and created / scored some key goals at crucial times. Fiachra Fitzpatrick very good again backing up his performance from last week. Evan Kealy and Jake Nolan were decent off the bench, Jake is a cracking hurler and is very physically strong for his age. Onto Ballycran in 2 weeks for a top of the table clash. hurlingguru (Carlow) - Posts: 1856 - 25/04/2026 21:49:48 2668651 Link
Sounds like another excellent win for the hurlers. I couldn't go the match yesterday nor was I about to listen to it on local radio but looking back on X last night and tracking it score by score it looks like we were under some pressure up the midway through the second half when we surged clear and put a bit of daylight between us. Before that we seemed to be relying on goals to keep us level or thereabouts. Anytime we went three points down it seems we then got a goal. Great sign and in fairness we do have the men up front to get goals out of nothing sometimes. Great to see that Marty was seemingly back on fire yesterday. I thought he was not himself last week but back to his best it seems yesterday. We are truly blessed with the forwards we have. Delighted to see Jake Nolan come in and make a contribution. Only 19 I think but a star of the future who's come on loads this past few months. Training with the seniors has clearly helped. I think he had been doing a bit with the senior footballers also but it's with the hurlers where he'll make his biggest contribution I'd say in the coming years anyway. Onion Breath (Carlow) - Posts: 1830 - 26/04/2026 09:16:56 2668701 Link
Fair play to the hurlers yesterday. Obviously I'm more of a football man but would always keep an eye on the hurlers. Is Fiachra Fitzpatrick taking the next step to getting up to the level possibly only Marty, Chris and James Doyle are at of being a top top player? Collio (Carlow) - Posts: 99 - 26/04/2026 11:13:36 2668730 Link
A couple of really positive weeks for our hurling teams. Seniors going really well 20s had a brilliant win last week And the minors were very decent yesterday and with small bit of luck could have won it. As someone said above "We won't burn the hurls just yet " Skippy2 (Carlow) - Posts: 83 - 26/04/2026 11:51:00 2668758 Link
Replying To Collio: "Fair play to the hurlers yesterday. Obviously I'm more of a football man but would always keep an eye on the hurlers. Is Fiachra Fitzpatrick taking the next step to getting up to the level possibly only Marty, Chris and James Doyle are at of being a top top player?" Same thought occurred to me during last week's match when he was absolutely outstanding and I thought stepped up up a level but also played like a real leader. Apart from the huge personal commitment he and others make I'd say the benefit of Div 1 hurling has helped him develop even more as a top class player. It's why we need to make sure we spend no more than one season in Div 2 next year. Our best young players WH are coming through will be comfortable at Div 2 level but we need them to find more and learn more from playing Div 1. Eventually that Div 1 experience will pay dividends with championship success. I'd like to think we're seeing that this year in McDonagh but we wsjtvuo get back up and stay up in McCarthy. Onion Breath (Carlow) - Posts: 1830 - 26/04/2026 12:32:29 2668765 Link
Replying To Skippy2: "A couple of really positive weeks for our hurling teams. Seniors going really well 20s had a brilliant win last week And the minors were very decent yesterday and with small bit of luck could have won it. As someone said above "We won't burn the hurls just yet "" Have to hold my hands up and admit that my despondency about Carlow hurling was a bit premature. Very happy to have been proven wrong. And I hope we win the Joe Mac now. CARPS (Carlow) - Posts: 1093 - 26/04/2026 15:15:49 2668798 Link